Poudre School District assembles all-star lineup for summer musical 'Mamma Mia!'

Fossil Ridge High School’s spring production of “Bright Star” won two prestigious statewide Bobby G Awards, for best actress in a leading role and outstanding performance in musical direction, and was nominated for four others, including best and actor in a leading role and best overall performance.

Fort Collins’ fall production of “Chicago” was the ThesCon Mainstage Selection, the only high school musical in the state invited to perform its entire show in front of 5,000 conference attendees last December at the Bellco Theater in Denver.

Poudre School District’s high school music and theater productions are often recognized among the state’s best.

This month, an all-star lineup of sorts — representing five of the district’s six comprehensive high schools — joined forces to produce a summer musical, “Mamma Mia!”

Rehearsals began just four weeks before opening night, Thursday, July 20. Additional performances are scheduled for Friday and Saturday nights, with matinees Saturday and Sunday afternoon at Fossil Ridge High School, 5400 Zeigler Road. Tickets, priced at $12 and $15, can be purchased in advance online at psdsummermusical.com. A limited number of tickets for performances that don't sell out in advance will be available at the door. Payment by credit card is preferred.

“It’s been very intense,” said Parker Cropp, who has one of the lead roles as Donna Sheridan. “… I’m so proud and impressed with everyone because I think everyone pulled their weight, and I think we have a great show.”

Cropp, who will be a senior this fall, was speaking after a dress rehearsal Tuesday that backed up her claim. Everyone knew their lines, the songs were solid, and the choreography was impressive, as were the sets, lighting and music played by an 11-piece orchestra set off to one side of the stage.

“I feel great. These kids are working their tails off,” said director Joel Smith, a teacher who runs the theater program at Poudre High. “We’ve still got some bits and pieces to put together, but I feel really excited and confident. I’m so impressed with these students, all the hard work they’ve done day after day after day — all day.”

Auditions were held in May, but rehearsals for the all-school musical didn’t begin until June 29 — six days earlier than originally planned. Repair on the air-conditioning system at Fort Collins High moved the production to Fossil Ridge, and a conflict with the beginning of that school’s marching band practices pushed the performance dates forward a week, said Melissa Flail, PSD’s new curriculum facilitator for the performing arts.

More: 'Culture and community': How educators are bridging cultural divides with modern music

Students, ranging from incoming freshmen to seniors who graduated in May, had two days off for the Fourth of July holiday, and then worked on the production daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Seventy-one students auditioned for acting roles, Flail said, and 35 were selected, including two who later had to back out. Eight other students have leading roles on the production crew, overseeing the orchestra and 43 other crew members — down from 55 at the beginning — who are responsible for lightning, sound, sets, costumes and a variety of other behind-the-scenes duties.

There were 94 students participating in Tuesday’s dress rehearsal, she said.

“We knew we wouldn’t be able to do our usual 8- to 10-week production schedule,” Smith said. “But we also wanted to take advantage of the fact that we had full days rather than two- to three-hour blocks during school.

“We wanted it to be a challenge. We called it a musical theater intensive; we liked that idea. We’re taking a deep dive into this work. We’re not going to have a lot of extra time built in. The kids have really risen to the challenge.”

Erin Dangerfield, a senior-to-be at Fort Collins High, is the student orchestra director, working alongside Fort Collins High orchestra director John Hermanson. She was in the five-member orchestra for her school’s fall production of “Chicago” and in a larger orchestra for the spring production of “SpongeBob The Musical” that won a Bobby G for outstanding production by an orchestra.

Musical theater, she said, is why she plans to become a music teacher.

Theo Kuehn, one of four student managers, graduated from Poudre High in May and is headed to CSU in the fall to study wildlife biology and technical theater.

He enjoyed learning the ins and outs of how the other high schools in Fort Collins handle the behind-the-scenes work in their theater productions while working under the guidance of Fossil Ridge teacher John Garner and Fort Collins High teacher Jason Tyler, the assistant director and assistant technical director.

“It’s been really rewarding to be able to spend so much time, so much concentrated time, and then we’re starting to see everything come together,” Kuehn said. “Obviously with the set, and everybody sounds good, and we’ve got the mics and props and all of that happening.

“Just knowing we did it in such a short amount of time and having a really tangible amount of work that you put in is really cool.”

More: Fossil Ridge High musical nominated for best overall production, 5 other Bobby G Awards

Bri McCormick, who shared a Bobby G Award with another Fossil Ridge music teacher for outstanding musical direction for “Bright Star,” is the vocal director. Amie Tyler, a teacher at O’Dea Elementary School, is the choreographer. Poudre teacher Kari Armstrong is the costume director, and Flail serves as the producer.

Poudre School District brought back the idea of an all-school musical, previously performed three or four times in the 1980s and 1990s as the Tri-High Musical when the district had three high schools, in honor of longtime Lesher Middle School and Rocky Mountain High musical director Barbara Lueck, nicknamed "Mama Lu," who died in 2019.

Because of the work involved, it probably won’t become an annual production, Smith said. But he hopes this won’t be a one-and-done deal, either.

“Hopefully, it will continue and be something students can look forward to once, maybe twice, in their high school years,” he said.

“Mamma Mia!’ was chosen, he said, for a variety of reasons, including that it has a relatively large cast, allowing for the participation of more students than many other musicals. But also because of the music, storyline and time of year it is being performed.

Many of the ensemble members have held significant roles in productions at their schools.

“It’s such a great option for the summer, because it’s the summer musical,” said Hannah Schnorr, a junior-to-be at Fossil Ridge who has one of the lead roles as Sophie Sheridan. “It has so many roles and so many opportunities for everybody to be a part of and learn new things.”

Schnorr and others acknowledged that the intensive preparation schedule of all-day rehearsals made it more doable, too. Despite instructions to learn all the music and speaking lines before rehearsals began, some cast members admittedly struggled a bit the first few days, said Ella Sokolowski, a May graduate of Fossil Ridge who plays one of Sophie’s best friends, Lisa.

Once the full cast came together — Parker missed the first two rehearsals because of the schedule change, she said, and had to play catchup for the first week — everything came together quickly, Sokolowski said.

“Mamma Mia!” would be a difficult production for any high school to put on during a typical school-year theater schedule, several cast members said. But it’s a great fit for an all-school summer musical, said Eddie Tyler, a senior-to-be at Fort Collins who plays Sam Carmichael, one of Sophie’s three possible fathers.

“It’s a great show for what we’re doing right now because it’s cheesy and big and flamboyant, and that’s perfect for the first show for this,” Tyler said. “If it was a high school production, say at Fort Collins High School, I don’t think it would have been pulled off as well as we’re doing here.”

And, based on the first of two dress rehearsals Tuesday — they were holding another Wednesday afternoon — they’ve pulled it off remarkably well.

“It’s an incredible team,” Smith said. “… Not only do we have talented students from all the schools, but this is very clearly a community that values performance and theater in our schools. The community really supports what we’re doing in the arts.

“We know it’s a huge time commitment for the kids to be involved in any of our productions, so that kind of support is amazing. Because of that, we really swung for the fences, knowing that this show wasn’t going to be easy.

“We know we have the students, districtwide, who can build anything, sing anything and do any show. There are no limits for these kids, because they’re so talented.”

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news. 

'Mamma Mia' tickets

• When: 7 p.m. July 20-22, 2 p.m. July 22-23

• Where: Fossil Ridge High School, 5400 Zeigler Road.

• Cost: $12 and $15

• Get tickets: psdsummermusical.com. A limited number of tickets for performances that don't sell out in advance will be available at the door. Payment by credit card is preferred.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Poudre School District puts on all-star summer musical 'Mamma Mia!'